In these
uncertain days, I think we are all reflecting on how short and fragile human
life seems and are wondering how we can leave a mark on time to remind future
generations that we were here and who we were. I am sure my Uncle Will could
never have known that his satchel would provide a future generation with some
sense of his life and accomplishments. Depending how you look at it, Will’s
satchel contains, on one hand, very little to signify a life. On the other, it
provides a glimpse into the life of a young dandy on the prairie in post-Civil
War Missouri, a sense of the era and a feeling of
continuity for his descendants.

My mother[i][1]
passed away last January and I have now inherited Uncle Will’s satchel. This
satchel belonged to William Henry Gillum who, I now
know, was my great-great-great uncle, the brother of John T. Gillum, my great-great grandfather. The son of Henry Gillum, John T. was born in Albermarle County, Virginia and moved, as an infant, with his
parents Henry Lee and Nancy Gillum and his
grandparents John and Elizabeth Gillum to
Russellville, Logan Co, Kentuckyin l826.
There Henry was a successful tobacco dealer and farmer. John T Gillum came to Johnson County, Missouri in 1853, settling near Montserrat, between Knob Noster
and Warrensburg.[ii][2]

How the satchel came to my Mother is a
story in itself. My grandmother AddieGillumFlanery was a teacher in
the Warrensburg schools. One day ( in the 1940s I
think. There are calendar pages from 1946 in the satchel)someone
at school, learning her maiden name was Gillum, asked
if she could be kin to a William Gillum? She said
“yes,” she had an Uncle Will, and then they explained that an old man by that
name had lived and been a boarder in their home in Schell City, Vernon County,
Missouri, and had died there many years ago. They had kept his satchel, in
case, they ever found his family. Thus the old leather satchel came to
Warrensburg and from Grandmother’s house to Mother’s to mine.

What makes
this interesting is that, first of all, SchellCity is not very far from Warrensburg. John
T. Gillum lived to the age of 80 and Will’s younger
brother George L. lived to 82. Assuming Will also lived to the age of 80, he
would have died shortly after the First World War. He had visited Warrensburg
as late as l892. Robert F. Gillum, my great
grandfather kept a day book, indicating with a few words the important event(s)
of life on his Montserrat farm. I have found two entries about
Uncle Will visiting him that year. He recorded:

And Mother remembered her uncle, Grover Gillum,
telling about Will visiting him later at the county courthouse, so Uncle Will
knew family was close.

Uncle Grover also said that when Uncle
Will had visited with him, he told high tales of travel to Australia and other faraway places and made it
clear he was only passing through, before he was soon off once again for other
great adventures. However, sometime thereafter, Uncle Grover was on the
Missouri Pacific Railway near Sedalia, and he saw Uncle Will who acted like
he did not recognize his great-nephew. He thought that Uncle Will was
embarrassed to be “caught” so near by, making his earlier tales only “stories.”

Of course we may never know why he died
alone, out of contact with Warrensburg, perhaps in an unmarked grave. Had Uncle
Will not told people in SchellCity anything about his family? Did he
suffer “post-traumatic stress”(to use modern
terminology) from his war experiences? Had a lack of worldly success
embarrassed him? Had “words been exchanged between brothers”? Did he just lose
interest in Warrensburg after his brother died in 1906? Or did the family in SchellCity simply forget what he had told them
about his family and descendants? Taken together, family folklore, the contents
of his satchel and the historical record offer some clues to Uncle Will’s life
and some surprises.

The old leather satchel, tied with a
hemp rope, is filled with memorabilia of Uncle Will’s life. There are many
amusing, amorous love notes, a Valentine, several letters from his brother
George in Russellville, one from John T. Gillum and
one from his father Henry, a pair of glasses, a poker chip with his father’s
initials H.G., a metal plate to ink his name, possibly from the Civil War era,
two old photos, one daguerreotype faded beyond recognition, various newspaper
clippings, including a poem on “The Ballad of Chickamauga,” a small tintype,
Civil War bonds, an almanac of the 70
Wonders of the World from l882, a booklet on Carter’s liver pills, his
brother George’s calling, card, several business cards, a watch and business
papers.

Uncle Will was born in Russellville.
The 1860 census for Russellville records in the Gillum
home a William, age 19; he had two older siblings in Logan County and two
younger ones (John T. Gillum is not listed as he had
left for Missouri in 1853).We know little of his life in Kentucky, although his
later correspondence indicates he must have received a solid education as a
young man. His brother George wrote him in1l882, mentioning how he cherished
“with delight the same pleasing recollections of former boyhood, and manhood.[iv][4]
Unfortunately, there is no photo of William, butperhaps he looked like his older brother
John T. Gillum as pictured in about 1865.

The only clues in the satchel that
Uncle Will supported the Confederate side in the Civil War is a small bundle of
fifteen Confederate States of America bond coupon, dating to August 1, 1861 to
l863. The bonds valued $7500 and, ironically, the bearer was to collect $20 for
each on January 1, 1865. He had also kept a newspaper clipping reprint of “The
Ballad of Chickamauga,” The poem vividly underscored the nature of the War, beginning
with the first lines:

Considering his age, itmade me wonder if he might have fought
for the Confederate Army.

Luckily, through a recent Web search, I
found that at the age of 20, Will hadenlisted in “A” Company of the 9th
Infantryof the Kentucky Volunteer Army
of the Confederate States of America on September 22, 1861. The soldiers in this companycamefrom Russellville and their captain was John
W. Gillum, probably a relative of Will’s. The roster
of the Company indicates that Will was “usually employed in various detail
services of the Regiment.” [vi][6]
The company belonged to the lst Kentucky Brigade,
known as the “Orphan Brigade.” The Brigade got this name from the fact that the
soldiers in the Brigade were “orphaned” from their home state as Kentucky had remained loyal to the Union. The men were not allowed to go back
to Kentucky which was “behind enemy lines,” to go
on furlough or toreceive mail regularly, so the Confederate Army became their only
home.

The Brigade fought across their way
across the South, fighting at the Shiloh, Vicksburg and Murfreesboro, the bridge was part of the siege of
Jackson, Chickamauga, the Atlanta Campaign and the battle
of Stockbridge. The end of the war found the men in the South Carolina
Campaign, fighting to cut off Shermann’s march to the
Sea. In April 1865, they were encamped at Sumter where they were ordered to move back
to Washington, Georgia where they surrendered their arms. The
lastConfederate
soldier killed was in the 9th Kentucky Infantry of the Orphan
Brigade.[vii][7]

Uncle Willapparently remained with the Brigade
to the last battle. The clue to this isin a letter from Kate Gerald Gaillard which he kept the rest of his life. The letter is
undated, but in the first lines she writes:

Your
letter dated Jan 15thhasjust reached me,
itsdelay being occasioned by its being
directed to Slatesbury instead of Sumter, whichis our P. Office….I am very sorry that you
should suppose, that you had been forgotten by us, andthough our acquaintance was short, and we
have not met for years, you have always been high esteemed by us, and
remembered as a Friend. I received your letter written just after the war, I
know now that I did very wrong in not answering it and returning your
ring….[viii][8]

Kate also wrote that her sister remembered Will from seven
years ago, so this letter was probably posted in about 1872.

The Orphan Brigade was paroled on May
6, 1865.
The Brigade which had initially enlisted 4500 had lost, at least three fourths
of its men. Each man apparently received two dollars in silver money (so Uncle
Will got a poor return on his $7500, to say the least.) Then they began the
long walk home to Kentucky.[ix][9]
Will probably returned to the family farm in Russellville, but as other
Confederate veterans in border states, he faced an uncertain future. His
father was still living, though in failing health. His younger brother George
stayed on the farm for the rest of his life. Perhaps Will’s father suggested he
join his brother John T. in Missouri and seek his own fortune there.

By December 1867, Will is in
Warrensburg where he was employed by the attorney practice of Cruse & Bell.
Henry’sletter
is a reply to two recent letters from his son. From the letter, we gain a
picture of a young man seeking his way to monetarysuccess, but who may already have a
reputation for quarreling with his family and being a bit “difficult to manage”
Henry begins his letter diplomatically, writing his son:

….you also stated you were in Warrensburg
& you were getting better wages though I heard that before, and here let me
say that I do not in the least set up or claim any wright
directly or indirectly to trying to control you in any way whatever. For you
are old enough to be at least your own Guardian…..

Before
offering fatherly advice, he reassures Will of his faith in him, explaining,

.. and just then I willsay that I have no fears of your doing well
for you are fully capable and competent & qualified.”

However, he then adds, a stern
remainder, somewhat in contradiction, “…and should fail the fact willrest upon
some[one] do let [it] fall upon you for that would be a painfull
reflection to me. ” His final advice, with a note of affection, is: “And
William my son let a close application to business, Fidelity and the interest
of your employers be your motto, let others do as they may.”

Before closing, he also hinted that Will had
had some problems with his family, because he adds: “I would like to hear from
you often and if it is the will of the Lord that we should not meet again on
earth let us covenant as an unbroken family and meet your sainte
mother and sister where I expect erelong to meet them high up in mansions
of rest….” The letter is signed “Accept the assurance of a fathers Love. [x][10]

Uncle Will
also kept a document from the pastor of the ME (Methodist) Church South in
Warrensburg, dated October 25, 1869. The letter certifies that W.H. Gillum “has been an acceptable member of the ME Church
South, Warrensburg station” and“recommended him to the Christian care and kindness of any society with
which he may desire connection,” indicating that Will had moved from
Warrensburg and was probably wanting to join another congregation. Could his
choice of faith also have been an act of rebellion from the Gillum
family? He had apparently learned about the Methodist faith from Kate Gaillard in South Carolina, [xi][11]
.rather than from home and John T. Gillum and family
became founding members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Montserrat.

Clearly, Will also knew Wanderlust.. The date of the pastor’s letter
and an i.o.u. for $26.20 from Belvoir, Missouri in VernonCountyalso
dated that fall are an indication that he had left JohnsonCounty and moved to southern Missouri by late 1869. The satchel contains
letters and business papers from 1870 and 1871 addressed to him in other
southwestern Missouri towns, including Prairie City, Nevada, Belvoir, andSchellCity. The satchel contains the copy of a
petition in Will Gillum’s hand tothe County court of VernonCounty toincorporate SchellCity, so Will may have played a hand in
establishing this community.

I also found, to my surprise, a
document dated June 12, 1872, from the fifth Judicial Circuit and
the CircuitCourtofVernonCounty. This was a year after Will’s father
Henry passed away in Kentucky. He would have been proud of his son.
The document atteststhat W.H. Gillum “produced satisfactory
testimonial of his good moral character and having been duly examined and
regularly admitted as an Attorney and Councellor
ofthe Several Circuit Courts of the
State of Missouri” had received his licence
to practice as an attorney.[xii][12]He purchased a piece of
property and joined the A.F. and AmLodge, no. 448, in Schell City,.[xiii][13]

Will
apparently remained in SchellCity for at least six years, practicing as
an attorney, for the satchel contains several deeds and correspondence about
estates he handled. One contract is particularly interesting, it is a contract
between theM.K.
and T Stock Yards of Vinita in Indian territory and James Skinner, dated May 4, 1878. Skinner was contracting to deliver
three tons of priaire hay to the Stock Yards, “said
hay to not be cut from ground that was not burned over during the spring or
winter. Said hay to be well cured and not bleached or burned by the sun.” [xiv][14]
Perhaps this is where he got interested in working for the railways.

By
early 1881 or 1882, Uncle Will had arrived in Hannibal, Missouri. He kept his identification card as
Supt. of theHannibal
Stock Yards on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway valid until December
31, 1882.
The satchel also had two receipts from Hannibal, for shipping sixteen cars of ice on
the M & K division of the Missouri Pacific Railway.[xv][15]But he did not stay in Hannibal long; severalletters indicated that he was back in JohnsonCounty in 1884 and 1886, butit is not clear whether he was staying with
his brother John T. orjust visiting. By
1887, he had moved to Boonville,.[xvi][16]but, unfortunately, the
satchel offers no clues what he was doing there.

Several
of the family letters and of the love letters Will kept confirm Uncle Grover’s
impression that while Uncle Will apparently bragged about travels far and wide,
he was a confabulator of adventures and not an adventurer. Perhaps his
experiences in the war had left him tired and cautious. While he kept in some
contact with his Missouri relatives for many years, he seems to
have remained at odds with his brother in Kentucky.

In 1882, his brother George wrote
him at Hannibal:

I
think it sostrange
that so long a time has elapsed since you wrote me a letter; and were it not
that I received a pair of horns a short time ago would not know how to address
you in order to find out.

Perhaps Will had sent the horns as a means of bragging about
his travels, because George adds, “I have heard several times that you had gone
farther west.”[xvii][17]Willseems to
have enjoyed giving the impression that he was always underway.

Perhaps it
was also Will’s way of avoiding a return home, without the worldly success he
had hoped for. In a letter dated December 14, 1883, George wrote “the last time I ever heard
from you directly or indirectly was when you wrote me that you were going to
some place in Indiana or Illinois.” Will seems to had have a chip on his
shoulder in previous correspondence, because George adds“your opinion of my relationship and
fidelity hinging upon your being ‘endowed with gold and silver’ is exceedingly
cutting and unkind a reflection I am sorry you make.” He also suggests, perhaps
honestly, perhaps unkindly, that Willshould withdraw himself:

…in
spirit,entirely
alone, as at thehour of might, when no
mortaleye canbehold you, and ask yourselfthis question. Have you been as truthful in yourcommunications
oral and written in telling just what was true to me, as you ought to have been
to a brother.

In a final conciliatory
note, George wrote that he hoped “when the responsibilities incident to life in
this world are over, for a happy meeting in peace…where nomisunderstand[ing]
cancome and where brother

From the evidence,
it is doubtful that Will ever returned to Kentucky. A girl friend, Nellie Findlay, wrote himin 1874,
expressing her regret that “you were deprived of the pleasure of your visit to Ky.”[xix][19]He had a letter from his
older brother John T. in the summer of 1886, saying that he had received Will’s
letter promising that he would be soon be in Kansas City on his way to
Kentucky, but George wrote him again in March 5, 1887 and commented on Will’s
recent “assurance of an anticipated visit and the social pleasure of renewed
association,” so he had apparently never arrived. George concludes in the
letter that his brother is one who always restless and underway and he will
probably never come for a visit, commenting, almost enviously:

I
think you might have written before andtold us of a balmy and beautiful south
for wehave often wondered where
youhad gone. Likethemigratory bird you have followedtheretiring Summers heat and
[when]thepleasant days of spring are
approaching you fold the tentof
pleasure and as quietly move again to the clime of better acquaintance and
familiar seans [scenes]Such is life, fickle, fleeting, gone.[xx][20]

This is the last of the letters from his family that Will
kept. Perhaps he grew weary of explaining himself, of inventing new adventures
and worrying that they might find out that his life after the Civil War had not
been adventurous at all.

In fact, Will probably never put down roots in Missouri either. Though he must have been clever, dashing
and eligible and had many “lady friends,” he apparently never married. Going
through the satchel, one begins to wonder, if he moved so often because he had
“a fear of commitment” and was seeking a way to free himself from love
entanglements. During the War he had given Kate Gerald a ring, but then wrote
her seven years later. At that same time, he began a correspondence with Nellie
Findlay of Napoleon in LafayetteCounty which is interesting.

Nellie
had met Will at Montserrat where she was visiting her Grandfather
inthe fall of
l872. She was only recently out of school, so younger than Will, had just broken off an engagement and was ready for a
romance and marriage. From the beginning, Will enjoyed her friendship, but must
have tried to keep her at a distance too, because he told her he was “leaving Nevada for the Pacific coast.” Nellie
replied, flirtatiously, that she would not try to dissuade him, she just wanted
to know, “and what part of the Pacific coast pray do you propose lighting with
the smile of your radiant countenance.”[xxi][21]

In a note
on January 6thNellie writes that it is snowing and talks about the joys of
sleigh riding. Teasingly, she adds:

“Sleigh riding…a pleasant privilege of which
you will be deprived when you makethe
seawest your homeyet one I presumewhich might well be exchangesfor a home inview of that broad expanse of blue where each idly moving breeze “makes
low music in the ocean caves.”

and she thanks him for his Christmas gift.[xxii][22]By January 30th
Willhas changed his plans to travel to Texas. Perhaps Nellie who had lived in California knew too much about the state. She
knew less about Texas, obviously, because she worries that Will may “be devoured by Aligators
and yellow fever there,” neither of which, of course, was common there.[xxiii][23]

Nellie,
who is also a Methodist, wants to have fun and get married. She admits they are
two different personalities, though both are “willful.” Like George, she is
critical of Will’s ambitiousness and interest in money. She explained:

You
certainly have some ideas very different frommine. Those in regard to friendshipfor
instance. Why you seem toview men not
as made in gods own image and after his own heart but rather as a being caring
for nothing, striving for nothing save money—and that is gold which wins us
friends.[xxiv][24]

She accused him of being deceptive about his ideas of love
as well as his travels. She had also read a letter he had written to a friend
and commented on “its tone of murmuring sadness.”[xxv][25]
Perhaps his war experiences set Will apart and, from her point of view he was
too serious and not spontaneous enough in love.

Nellie
writes him a fewdays
later,

I
often wonder if the great part of earths happiness is not found in
dreams…ifsuch bethe case with our earthly mortals, happy is
he who dreams bright dreams in life and I sorrow for those who have so little
heart and imagination as to bring every thing down to a philosophical point of
view. It does very well for man to philosophize on gravitation but those higher
emotions of the soul I do not think were give man to moralize on.[xxvi][26]

From the early letters, it is hard to distinguish, if it is
a friendship or a courtship between Nellie and Will. However, she replied to a
letter from him about a year later where she indicates that Will had written to
“know just the ground on which we stand.”

Then Nellie
adds, with equivocation:

I know thatit would be the silliest of coquetry
for one to say I do not understand and appreciate the delicately implied
sentiment underlying your letters for the past twelve months. You planted the
germ of love in my heart when you first told me it was growing in yours and the
gentle culture you have bestowed there has refinedtheperfect flower. You have had in your keeping the rose bud of friendship
for some time and when you care to claim it, the full blown rose of affection
is yours.[xxvii][27]

This is the last of Nellie’s lettersin Will’s
satchel, so it seems Will did not care to claim her attention.

Will also kept three letters from
Mary Pancake which she sent to him in Nevada, Missouri in l879. He apparently had proposed
marriage to her, because she replied:

I
cannot write as I would to one for whom I do not entertain feelings of sincere
respect and friendship, nor can I answer as you seemto hope for. If I were disposed to
marry now, I have but a witheredheart to offer. You could be happier
with one who could give you the heart’s first and best offering.[xxviii][28]

But thismust not have discouraged Will unduly. Very likely, he enjoyed
the flirtations and pursuit more than the conquest. The most humorous itemin his satchel,
for a reader, is the letter he got from Loulamine in SchellCity that year. She wrote, feistily, to Will, as follows in its entirety:

Dear Will,

You are so vain.Iknow you think all
of us girls are in love with you. We know you are in your dotage, this accounts
the winning smiles you get in SchellCity. Girls have great reverence for old
age.

There is no correspondence, in the satchel, from any women
he met in Hannibal, but there is a photo portrait of one
woman, taken by a photographer, in his red account wallet, and a tintype of her
too, so she must have played a role in Will’s life. He had also kept a baby
picture from Corder,Missouri, but, disappointingly the satchel
provides no clues of its importance to Uncle Will.

There are also three amorous letters
from a Montserrat school teacher named Dora Campbell
whom he met when he was visiting his brother John T. in 1884. They met at
church, because Dora writes:

If
you thought yourself ridiculous that day at the church how on earth did you
think I appeared. I never felt so foolish and could think of nothing to
say in the right place. I wanted to pinch myself for acting so silly. I amsure it wouldhave been very pleasant if we could have
become acquainted with each other at the beginning of your protracted visit
instead of this last day.

hastilysought to
assure him that the ring on her finger was one her brother had given her and
not an engagement ring. She was younger than him, because she explained:

If
I had not been looking at you so much perhaps I would never have seen you
looking at me. The admiration seems to have been mutual. I remember you when I
was a child and have always considered you my “Bean Ideal.” I did not deem it a
weakness on your part at all to write me an apology or to confess your
fascination, for it made me regard you more highly (if possible) andconfirmed my opinion that you are a perfect
gentleman. I am very sorry you neglected God to worship me….nothing would give
me more pleasure than to renew the short acquaintance of sweet long ago, and
hope the time not far in the distance.[xxx][30]

Later in the fall of 1884, she confessed that she had
refused two offers of marriage because she cared too much for him.

She pours out her heart, writing:

I
could not love any one as Ihave you and I would rather die than marry a man whom Icould not give my whole heart. I have
highly esteemed many gentlemen before but never loved, but I met you. I always
advocated the idea that there was no such thing.[xxxi][31]

Itcomes as
nosurprise, however, that Dora had just
learned that Will was going away and that this was the last letter from Dora in
his satchel.

Hopefully,
further research will undercover records that answer questions remaining about
Uncle Will, in particular where and when he died. In his satchel, there isalso a receipt for
two pieces of luggage he had left in Harrisonville, Missouri, dated 1886.One of them wasa valise, perhaps thesatchel we are talking about today. There is
a ticket stub from a LoganCollege performance in 1895 and two receipts
dated 1901, so Uncle Will lived into the Twentieth Century. Finding his burial
site in VernonCounty might begin to provide further insight
into his life of confabulation and loneliness in post-CivilWarMissouri.

Warrensburg,MissouriNovember 7, 2001

Notes

[i][1] Jean Marie FlaneryRiddle, was born August 29, 1919 in Warrensburg and passed away January 7, 2001 in Warrensburg.

[ii][2]For
Gillum family history see John Thomas Gillum, Through the Years ,Independence,
MO, 1992.